Like snowmobiles, goggles are on a "continuous improvement" cycle as manufacturers test, tweak and improve the product for better optics, comfort, fit (especially in modern helmets) and reduced fogging.

I was at the Snowmobile Hall of Fame in St. Germain, Wisconsin, over the weekend, where winter delivered a few glorious inches of snow to announce the beginning of winter at one of my favorite places in the world.

Click to see a few pix of what's happening at the SHOF, including the brand-spanking-new display museum.

Snowmobile Show season is coming to an end in North America just as Winter is nicely beginning to introduce itself (a light dusting of snow is on the ground outside my window as I write this).

For as long as I can remember, hitting the closest autumn snow show was central to the yearly snowmobile experience. It was THE place to grab trail maps, brochures of cabins and resorts that catered to sledders, as well as catalogs from every company doing business in the sport.

Recently I ran across a few photos of one of the early first-ever Wisconsin Snowmobile Show while perusing some of the historical artifacts at the Snowmobile Hall of Fame in St. Germain, Wis.

Waaaaaaaaaaayyyyyy back 27 years ago on Halloween, Mother Natured delivered one of the all-time great weather events for a large swath of the Midwest. Dubbed the Halloween Blizzard (10 inches of snow fell that night), it was a trick-and-treat of epic proportions, with upwards of 30-40 inches of snow that eventually blanketed parts of Minnesota and Wisconsin.

It paralyzed cities and caused hardship for some. But it gave snowmobilers the greatest candy of any Halloween ever.

For two days friends and I snowmobiled all over the Twin Cities. On freeways, highways and throughout neighborhoods where snowmobiling wasn't legal. It was incredible.

This happened in the days before decent storm prediction, and the weather people completely missed this one until it was already happening. Thus nobody was ready for it, myself included. It was a gift for winter lovers, and a scary-as-hell fright for everyone else.

Nothing like that predicted for tonight, however I'm hearing reports of snow up north this coming weekend.

It's been 40 glorious years since Arctic Cat launched Cat's Pride club. Tens of thousands of Arctic Cat fans can count themselves as members during those four decades, participating in various events and contests, reading the former Cat's Pride magazine and proudfully wearing clothing emblazoned with the club's name.

While the club and its offerings have evolved since 1978, Cat’s Pride Club remains the longest operating brand snowmobile club in the world, with members across the globe.

Celebrate the history and join (or renew) the famed club with the 2019 edition Cat’s Pride Club Member Kit.

The 2019 edition kit features pre-shrunk flannel shirt with the embroidered Cats Pride Club logo; a premium collector’s hat; and membership pin. These items are designed exclusively for members and not available anywhere else. Buying the kit makes you a member as well as renews a previous membership.

Blessed with a few inches of fresh snow and a projected high of just 31 degrees, Arctic Cat engineers got an early jump on winter today by laying down some tracks in the ditch outside of the factory.

Piloting just-built 2019 ZR 8000s, Jeff Olson and Wes Selby are spending the day breaking-in some of their test units, gettiing the sleds through Stage One of the procedure (wonderfully ironic in light of yesterday's post) so they're ready for bigger days ahead.

Snowmobile tracks in fresh snow in TRF on Oct. 11...just like that, everything's right in the world!

Where: One mile from the first fuel stop just outside of Goodridge, Minnesota

One of the best cross-country racers of the era, Ekre was on the cusp of what would have been his first-ever win in the I-500 XC. He led after day one, and again after day two. Heading into the first of two fuel stops on the final day, Ekre’s lead was several minutes. But his date with destiny would soon unravel, in the form of track failure.